So, ten minutes a day to learn to ‘read’ the Arabic letters in six groups? Yes, in around ten days you’ll be able to recognise and identify all the Arabic letters, and also be able to trace them.
I say ‘recognise and identify’, because reading is a bit more complex: in everyday writing (basically, apart from official documents and the Quran), most vowels are not noted in words. Mst f wvl t dsppr… not easy for beginners, but you get the hang of it, and it comes very quickly indeed!
While most methods suggest you learn the alphabet in order, ‘I, which presents the letters in logical groups that either look the same when written or are pronounced slightly the same. It’s much easier to remember!
So here we go for the first group… this one’s simple, but if you’re completely new to Arabic, it’ll take you a bit longer!
A very important point to understand, before listening to the lesson: ‘the.
Today’s group of letters are similar in shape: they have a very simple form, and all you have to do is memorise the differences!
Bâ ( ب ) : the B sound
It’s a very simple letter to write and pronounce, just like in English.
When it’s handwritten, it’s often ‘squarer’ than in the printed version, but if you really want a beautiful handwriting, you have to round it off in the final version. As with the next two letters, you need to give it a rectangular, slightly elongated shape.
You can recognise it by the dot at the bottom.
This is the letter used to transcribe the ‘P’, which does not exist in Arabic. So the ‘Pacha’ is actually a ‘Bacha’.
Tâ ( ت ) : the normal T sound
There are several ‘T ’s in the Arabic alphabet. This one is very simple, and is pronounced in the English style. The only difference with Bâ is the colon at the top instead of the dot at the bottom.
(Be careful not to turn the colon into an elongated dash when writing).
Tâ also has a special form at the end of words, which indicates the feminine gender: this is ‘tâ marbouta’, which is pronounced … â! and is written like this: ة (but you can forget it for now, we’ll come back to it later).
Tha ( ث ) : Th as in “Thing”
There are many ‘series’ of letters like this, where the dot will indicate a change in the basic sound. This is the case with ت and ث .
This is the first sound that is a bit difficult for the French, but not for English people. It’s the English sibilant ‘th’, the one in ‘thing’… and many French people don’t pronounce it well in English either.
You need to practise! The French ‘S’ is pronounced by pointing the tongue downwards, behind the teeth. To pronounce the ث , you have to move your tongue up and almost stick it out under your front teeth. A bit like a wet lisp, which would pronounce an ‘s’ and not a ‘z’ (we’ll get to that z later).
Noun ( ن ) : the sound N
Another very simple letter to pronounce, just like in English.
It’s also a very pretty letter. It is more square in shape, and in its final position, it descends below the base line.
Ya ( ئ ) : the ‘y’ as a vowel
The ئ is one of the three semi-vowels of the Arabic alphabet. It is pronounced like an elongated ‘ee’. When you write it by hand, you put the colon below the letter, which looks like a little chicken. It’s useful to remember this, so you don’t forget to raise it a little, to mark ‘the head’.
Note: the ئ added at the end of a word means ‘my’!
Words to learn: بنت (daughter)
And now, to practise writing, two forms of a word using the letters you’ve learned today.
بنت (Bint) is a very common word, meaning daughter. It’s used in Arabic names: you know we often say Such a son of … For example Hassan Ben Daoud, Hassan son of Daoud? Well, for a girl we say Leila Bint Daoud.
And with four letters, we have بنتئ which means ‘my daughter’. Yes, all we had to do was add the ئ at the end!
It’s a very commonly used word to address a woman younger than yourself. It’s a polite, kind expression. We often use ‘my daughter, my sister, my brother’ to address people, even complete strangers!
In English, ‘bint’ is a ‘girl’ with a pejorative meaning. Not at all in Arabic !
(I haven’t provided pictures of the other letters, because they’re so similar to ‘Bâ’ that there’s no point! )
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